The West Nile Virus outbreak of 1999 made 67 people in New York City ill, and brought with it endemic anxiety. But the anthrax mailings two years later brought death and high anxiety. Emergency measures in a jingoistic package, under consideration in the House of Representatives, arrived at the same time as the Ames strain and the emergency measures floated through Congress on a cloud of lethal white powder.

Right-wing propagandists stepped up to point out the obvious culprit. Laurie Mylroie explained to CNN, "it takes a highly sophisticated agency to produce anthrax in the lethal form-. Not many parties can do that." Saddam Hussein "continues his part of the war in the form of terrorism. It is unlikely that that anthrax will remain in letters. It is likely that it will be used - in the subway of a city, or in the ventilation system of a U.S. building. Saddam wants revenge against us. He wants to do to the U.S. what we've done to Iraq." READ MORE

The Jimi Hendrix chapter in Alex Constantine's The Covert War Against Rock was the basis of this documentary. It is available on DVD, and will air in the UK on the BBC. Alex was a consultant and talking head in the video; Hendrix archivist Steven Roby was interviewed for it, as well. READ MORE